I have a flash drive with subversion, python, php and notepad++ on it along with several of my ongoing projects. I do this to be able to resume work on any PC with an internet connection. Currently I have a .bat file that sets up the necessary paths as well as setting the current directory to my projects folder. I run this .bat file by opening a commend prompt and drag&dropping it in.

Here is what I'd prefer: Opening the .bat file would open the configured command prompt and stay open.

Alternatively my flash drive could contain a shortcut to c:/Windows/System32/cmd.exe with the bat file as an argument (if that is possible)

Command Prompt Portable is a simple utility that allows you to have a
custom command line setup on any Windows computer you come across. It
has built in support for the command line interpreters on both Windows
95/98/Me and Windows 2000/XP/Vista as well as the ability to customize
using simple DOS commands by editing the .bat file within
CommandPromptPortable\Data\batch after you've run it once. You can
customize the prompt, colors, window title, columns and more. A basic
batch file is included with some simple settings.

You can also pass in paths you'd like the command prompt to start in
by starting CommandPromptPortable.exe with a command line parameter of
the path (Windows 2000 and up only). Advanced users can enable
auto-complete by following the directions within the
Other\Source\readme.txt file.

Helpful Tip: Launch a command prompt with your own portable command
line tools in the path by adding SET PATH=%~d0\UtilsDirectory;%PATH%
to the batch file and placing your tools in X:\UtilsDirectory

command.com is not the same as the Windows command-prompt. If they use that, then many/most of the enhancements (e.g., filename completion) will be lost, not to mention everything just running slower in general.
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SynetechNov 11 '12 at 0:43